28 Days of Dance: Day 13 – “Cry (Part 1)” Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (1982)

Alvin Ailey created “Cry” in 1971 as a birthday present to his mother. He dedicated it to “all black women everywhere — especially our mothers.” The three-part ballet depicts a woman’s journey through the agonies of slavery to an ecstatic state of grace. While all three parts are great, it’s part one that moves me the most so I offer it up here.